Torchlight 2 (PC) Review

We liked?

Enormous Fun!

A Loot-Lovers Dream

Hours & hours of play

Not so much?

Very little has changed since Torchiight

Occasioanly wobbles & connection issues online

Final Fiendish Findings?

Torchlight 2 does little to take the action RPG genre forward. It’s iterative, borrows heavily from its contemporary and suffes from the occasional glitch in its online play. But that could be said of many titles and they seems to get a pass on it.

This is why I say that Torchlight 2 beats Diablo 3 hands-down. If you are a fan of this genre. If collecting “Hella-Loot” is your thing or you just want an enjoyable way to pass several days of your gamin life then I can’t recommend Torchlight 2 highly enough – especially when it’s such a cut-down price product & the promise of full modding support for the community going forward..

What Torchlight 2 lacks in progression and innovation it more than makes up for in playability, charm and enjoyment. It betters Torchlight in every way – and that’s no mean feat!

Torchlight 2 comes in a post Diablo 3 era. Unlike the original Torchlight which managd to capture so many hearts and minds during a Diablo dry-spell. So can Runic Games make an impact with their sequel or will it scamper back in to the dark?

Torchlight was one of my favourite titles of 2009. It was funny, fast paced and added some neat additions to the genr. Like a permanent pet that not only fought for you but could also take supplies back to town to be sold. Little touches like this, couple with the cartoonish graphics and well balanced dungeon crawling format and you can see why Runic had a winner on their hands.

Diablo 3 has certainly made a large amount of noise this year – not all of it positive. What with its constant online connection requirements and wonky marketplace mechanics the game has showed a chink in Blizzard’s armour. This leaves the door open to Torchlight 2.

After being summoned in a dream by Syl you start your quest at the Estherian Steppes. Here you venture forth across the land of Vilderan, with the help of Syl & the last Estherian Guardians, to locate what happened to the Alchemist who conquered Dark Ember.

Despite the overhauled graphics and online play elements, Torchlight 2 feels remarkably similar to the 2009 game. This is in stark contrast to the path Blizzard have taken with Diablo 3. In truth Torchlight 2 plays and feels more like a true sequel to Diablo 2. The main difference that’s not just cosmetic comes in the form of the six player online co-op gameplay. This is choosen at th e start of each play of the game. When you fire up a new or saved game you will be presented with the query “Lan or Online”.

Graphically the game has had a slight make over. Textures are a lot crisper, environments richer and character models oh so much more defined. Frame rate and tearing was a minimum but the game does command. The four character classes – Embermage, Outlander, Engineer and Beserker – are all well rounded and playing ant of them will give you a well balanced and polished performance.

The game is split over three acts that, as mentioned, you can attempt solo or with friends. You ever constant animal companion is back and just as essential as ever. Not only is the list of creatures for pets much more extensive you can also now add to their burdens by requesting a list of shopping when they go ba ck to town to sell items. This means you can order in new life potions, manna potions, identifier spells etc. It’s a small change but a welcome one that once again streamlines to process of turning mucho-loot in to valuable coins.

Leveling up is pretty simply in Torchlight 2. Each level you have a series of point to spend on the key area of your character. Dexterity, Strength, Vitality etc. These help, along with the magical expansions you sink other pints in to. The respect aspect of Torchlight 2 though is sorely missing. Sure you can go to a town and get a vendor to remove the last three upgrades. But this is for a cost and doesn’t really make a whole heap of difference to your character progression. So multiple plays will be needed to try different skill types. There is a skill specific meter at the bottom of the play screen that, once full, gives you a cha racter genre specific buff. This can be a great help in tight fights with many enemies.

Torchlight 2, like it’s predecessor is a massive loot-fest. These dungeon crawlers live to serve some very basic and primal needs in a gamer. “Must get stuff” & “Must see what’s next”. It needles this addiction superbly and I’ve had countless hours of fun with the title – more so than I have with Diablo 3.

Final Thoughts

Torchlight 2 does little to take the action RPG genre forward. It’s iterative, borrows heavily from its contemporary and suffes from the occasional glitch in its online play. But that could be said of many titles and they seems to get a pass on it.

This is why I say that Torchlight 2 beats Diablo 3 hands-down. If you are a fan of this genre. If collecting “Hella-Loot” is your thing or you just want an enjoyable way to pass several days of your gamin life then I can’t recommend Torchlight 2 highly enough – especially when it’s such a cut-down price product & the promise of full modding support for the community going forward..

What Torchlight 2 lacks in progression and innovation it more than makes up for in playability, charm and enjoyment. It betters Torchlight in every way – and that’s no mean feat!

Zeth

Zeth is our EU ninja and Editor in Chief. He's been writing about video games since 2008 when he started on BrutalGamer. He's pretty old and has been a gamer since he played Space Invaders as a young boy in the 80's. His genre tastes lean towards platformers, point-and-click adventure, action-adventure and shooters but he'll turn his hand to anything.

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